I only made 5 batches tonight, but measured everything out so that I could breakdown what I needed and what the cost ends up being.

Some tips/info:

~~~> A 5 lb. jug of honey comes out to a total of 7 cups, leaving you a 1/2 cup short for the 5th batch. (luckily I had some leftover honey from BML).

~~~> A 250g box of HPW makes about 11.5 batches..

~~~> 1 lb. of bee pollen makes a total of 22.5 batches, so you can make two whole 250g boxes of HPW with a pound of bee pollen..

~~~> 1 batch of HPW is just short of being 5 cups.. 5 cups of mix makes 240 teaspoons, or servings of HPW.

~~~> One 250g box of HPW will make approximately 2,760 teaspoons, or servings of HPW. (there are 16 tablespoons in 1 cup and 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon.. so that means that there are 48 teaspoons in a cup.. 48 x 5 = 240... 5 cups x 11.5 batches = 57.5 cups... 57.5 cups x 48 teaspoons = 2,760 teaspoons (servings).

So if you break it down, 1 batch of HPW costs approximately $5.13 to make..

I may very well be wrong on some of these numbers, as I've confused myself quite a bit trying to figure this out. I HATE math.. lol I'm tired now too so it's not helping.

If you find any mistakes please feel free to correct me.

**Do not try and make more than 1 batch at a time unless you have a large blender.. my blender has lines that go up to 5 cups, but it probably holds 7-8 cups.. when it is blending, the whole thing is FULL... If I had tried to double a batch I would have been OUT of luck!!**

Brenda ~ I knew there would be a mistake in there somewhere!! I'm going to correct that if it'll let me.

Well, my plan was to make the entire 250g box of HPW at one time, so I could have it all done and frozen as I HATE making batches so frequently... but when I saw how much it made I had to call it quits. It makes so much more than BML, I didn't realize it... but when I asked people nobody knew.. so I had to figure it out myself. lol The entire 250g box should last me almost 4 months.

If you have... (**approximate estimates**)

5 gliders.. a 250g box should last you for 552 nights.10 gliders.. a 250g box should last you for 276 nights.15 gliders.. a 250g box should last you for 184 nights.20 gliders.. a 250g box should last you for 138 nights. 25 gliders.. a 250g box should last you for 110 nights.

... and so on.. (just divide 2,760 by how many gliders you have)..

Laura - are you sure that a 250g box only lasts you for a little over a month? You'd have to have about 50 gliders for it to only strech that far unless all of my calculations are off?

Speaking of.. how long can this stuff be frozen for and still be considered *good*? I don't want to make so much if it's going to end up going bad.

Speaking of.. how long can this stuff be frozen for and still be considered *good*? I don't want to make so much if it's going to end up going bad

As long as it doesnt get freezer burned it can stay in the freezer for as long as the BML or anything else could for that matter.

Linda, you rock girl, taking the time to figure all that out. I knew it was a lot but written like that just amazed me. However, one thing, you have it down as feeding 1 teaspoon per glider, I feed 1-1/2 teaspoons per glider. Guess now its my turn to go play with figures!!

the breeder formula has double the HPS, which is better for breeding gliders. Most of mine are "breeders" so I use that formula for all of mine. They look great and they smell a LOT better than when they were on other diets (which is a BIG plus when you have several intact males, lol).

Several of my gliders have also been exposed to aflatoxin, and there are no grains in the diet, which puts my mind at ease as well.

I guess I'm too late to edit the above post to the accurate measurements so I'm going to just add them in here..

MY CORRECTION:The HPW recipe actually states to feed each glider 1.5 teaspoons, not 1... so you can give a pair of gliders 1 tablespoon of HPW and be feeding them correctly.

A 250g box of HPW will actually make about 2,070 servings instead of 2,760 servings.

If you have: (**approximate estimates**)5 gliders... a 250g box of HPW should last you 414 nights.10 gliders... a 250g box of HPW should last you 207 nights.15 gliders... a 250g box of HPW should last you 138 nights.20 gliders... a 250g box of HPW should last you 103.5 nights.25 gliders... a 250g box of HPW should last you 82.8 nights.

...and so on. To figure it out, divide 2,070 by the number of gliders that you have.

Another thing that I noticed is that HPW melts EXTREMELY fast!!

Tonight is the first night that my kids are getting HPW, so I'll let you know what the plates look like in the morning. I saw a few of them eating it already.. *crosses fingers*

I have to do a bit more thinking about which fruits and veggies to use - so that I'm getting something like a balanced meal plan fot them. But that is really minimal ... especially since I make the fruits and veggies in batches, too, and can do that all once a month or so...

_________________________
Alden"Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored." Alice Walker

Mom to Valhalla; 6 cats; 1 macaw; 2 hedgehogs;and very many great gliders!

ok - to add to the confusion - I only have two gliders - I tried the BML and it was tedious in my opinion - just buying all the various ingredients, and it was a bit expensive - I'm a full time student and working with < or = $1600 a month.

SO. I bought 2 starter packs from Critterlove: 2 x 1/4 cup HPW, 2 tble bee pollen. That would make 112 grams of HPW. I'm trying so hard to work out the math...but I admit...I'm having...issues.

Help please? I think it will last a good long time...enough that I can only get this maybe every couple of months.I worked out: 2070/250 = 8.28. So 112*8.28 = 927.36. That seems like a looooooot of night. And is that taking in to account the bee pollen? Mathmatically I mean?

Oh. Duh. One batch means the 1/4 cup. I was thinking 250g = one batch. See? I'm a hygienist, not a mathmetician. I can only do pharmaceutical math!!!! Not glider math!!!! Thank you for bringing an end to the madness.

Holy [censored]. We're set. So glad I went with the HPW. Easier and cheaper. And apparently it is great for the boys, which is the most important aspect.

Goodness. It's only about 3 bucks a month to feed two gliders on the HPW diet. Plus the mealies, which I'm not sure how much those are, since someone gave me a whole bunch, but they can't be that much.